Game 37
Ducks 5, Isles 3
Ryan Getzlaf scored three goals and added an assist as the Anaheim Ducks rallied from 1-0 and 3-1 deficits to defeat the Islanders 5-3 before a crowd of 13,108 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Thomas Vanek scored twice for the Isles, who once again failed to hold a 2-goal lead.

The Skinny:
Thomas Vanek recorded his second two-goal game for the Isles, tying Michael Grabner for the club lead in multi-goal games this season; he recorded four points (3-1-4) on the five goals the Isles scored vs. Anaheim this season.… John Tavares was held without a point for the second straight game… The Isles allowed one goal in the second period and have allowed 53 in the period this season (most in the NHL)…Ryan Getzlaf records his second career hat trick (both this season); it’s the first-ever Duck hat trick against the Isles. Kyle Palmieri, who was born on Long Island and grew up in New Jersey, recorded the winning goal for the second night in a row; he also had the winner last night at The Rock….The Isles allowed four goals in a period for the third time this season (first time in the third period); they have been outscored in the third period by a 43-22 margin…The Isles have allowed at least three goals in a period 13 times this season….Michael Grabner was -4 for the first time in his career…Getzlaf’s hat trick went into an empty net; it was the 5th empty-netter allowed by the Isles this season…Eric Boulton was assessed a misconduct and game misconduct at the final buzzer; he finished with 22 penalty minutes (most since PA Parenteau’s 24 on 2-20-2012).

The Lost Leads
The Isles are now 3-2-2 in games that they have led after one period and are 4-3-3 in games that they have led after two periods.
The Isles have now allowed five 2-goal leads to get away in the third period this season:
• Led Columbus 2-0, lost 3-2 in shootout
• Led Los Angeles 2-0, lost 3-2
• Led @ San Jose 2-0, won 3-2 in shootout
• Led Tampa 2-0, lost 3-2 in shootout
• Led Anaheim 3-1, lost 5-3
As Seen on MSG+
The Isles have now lost third period leads 10 times this season, including nine times at home. They are 2-3-5 in those ten games (meaning that they have earned only 9 of a possible 20 points in those games).

Post-Ranger Jinx
The Isles fall to 8-25-10 all-time in the game after a win at Madison Square Garden, including 3-21-4 in their last 28 games following an MSG victory.

The Shots:
Isles 9-5-7=21
Ducks 8-10-13=31

The Isles had only 41 shots in the back-to-back games.

Home and Road
The Islanders are 10-20-7 overall, 5-7-7 at home and 5-13-0 on the road. The Isles are 2-2-2 in their last six games. The Isles are winless in their last seven Coliseum games (0-3-4), matching their longest home winless streak since late in the 1998-99 season; the Isles also went 7 straight games without a home win in January/February 2008.
The Ducks are 26-7-5 overall; they are 13-0-2 at home and 13-7-3 on the road. It was Anaheim’s eighth straight wins, which sets a new franchise record.

In the Nets
Evgeni Nabokov made 26 saves but falls to 6-6-5 on the season and 26-19-3 in his career against the Ducks.
Frederik Andersen made 18 saves to improve to 9-1-0 in his rookie season.

Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-1 while the Ducks were 0-2.
The Isles are 6-5-4 when they score at least one power play goal and 4-15-3 when they do not. The Isles are 4-14-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 6-6-4 when they do not.
Over the last 27 games, the Isles power play is 9-86 (10.4%) while the penalty kill is 29-88 (67.0%). During the last 15 games, the power play is 5-45 (11.1%) (and has allowed three shorthanded goals) while the penalty kill is 14-52 (73.1%).

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 10-4-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-16-5 when they do not.

Helps to Score First
The Isles are 7-5-5 when they score first and are 3-15-2 when they allow the opening goal.

Second to The One
Jack Capuano is now 2nd on the all-time Islander list in both games coached (232) and wins (94).

They Said It
John Tavares: "Our third periods have been absolutely horrendous. Whether the calls go against you or not, you still have to find a way to get the job done.”
They Tweeted It
@CastellanoChris The chemistry between John Tavares and Thomas Vanek is growing with every game. #isles

The Coach
"We have to learn to play a North-South game, not an East-West game. Tonight was a prime example of what you do when you don't move the puck and you play in your own end."
Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 4-5-0 in the front-end and 2-5-2 on the back end of back-to-backs this season.
In the nine sets of back-to-backs, they have earned 4 points once, 3 points once, 2 points three times, 1 point once and no points on three occasions.
The next back-to-back set will be December 28th (vs. New Jersey) and December 29th (at Minnesota).

Head of the Class
John Tavares has 287 career points; he is 61 points ahead of Matt Duchene for most among 2009 draft picks. No other player from that draft is anywhere close. Tavares also has more goals and more assists than any other player from that draft.

Leading Ice Men
Travis Hamonic played 25:23 to lead the Isles for the 13th time this season. Cam Fowler led the Ducks with 26:21 of ice-time.
The Isles are 7-12-5 when MacDonald leads them in ice-time and 3-8-2 when Hamonic leads them.

In the Circle
The Islanders won 27 of 62 draws. No regular Islander centerman won more draws than he lost. Nick Bonino won 14 of 20 for Anaheim.
Both the tying and winning goals came directly off face-off wins for Anaheim; the Isles won only 7 of 20 face-offs in the third period.

Heavy Hitters
The Isles out-hit the Ducks 17-13. Cal Clutterbuck led the Isles will four hits, while Matt Martin extended his NHL-leading total to 180 with three hits.
Matt Martin fought former Islander Tim Jackman in the second period. The Isles have been involved in 13 fights this season: Martin (6), Boulton (4), and Carkner (3).

Giving Up the Body
The Isles were credited with 23 blocked shots. Travis Hamonic led the way with five blocks. Andrew MacDonald extended his NHL-leading total to 129 with four blocks.

Back Under All-Time .500
The Islanders once again drop under all-time NHL .500 (1381-1382-446 in 3,209 games). The Isles have finished every season since 1977-78 above all-time NHL .500 and have not been more than 1 game under NHL-.500 since January 11, 1978.

Ironmen
John Tavares is the reigning Islanders’ ironman. Tavares has now played in 244 consecutive games, which is the second-longest streak for an Islander in the Post Cup era.
Frans Nielsen (166) and Kyle Okposo (149) also have streaks of at least 100 consecutive games.

Missing Men
Lubomir Visnovsky and Radek Martinek remain on injured reserve. Colin McDonald was scratched for the fourth straight game while Peter Regin and Aaron Ness sat for the second straight contest. The Isles have lost 87 games this season due to injury.
Nobody Beats the Viz
The Isles were 19-12-4 last season and are 3-3-2 this season with Lubomir Visnovsky in the lineup. They were 5-5-3 last season and are 7-17-5 this season without him in the lineup.

29 Benoit Hogue 229
29 Trent Hunter 229
31 Matt Moulson 22331 Frans Nielsen 224
33 Mikko Makela 21934 Kyle Okposo 217
35 Mark Parrish 214
Season Series Stats
The Ducks win the season series two games to none (and four points to none).
Anaheim has won the last three games between the teams (all in regulation) for the first time in the history of the series.

Happy Anniversary
29 years ago tonight: December 21, 1984. Kelly Hrudey made 25 saves and Greg Gilbert scored the only goal as the Islanders blanked the Whalers 1-0 in Hartford. It was the first 1-0 road win in franchise history.
Overall, the Isles are 8-9-4 on this date.
On The Farm
Scooter Vaughan scored his first AHL goal on Saturday night but Bridgeport fell to Manchester 2-1 at Harbor Yards. Anders Nilsson made 25 saves in defeat. Bridgeport is 11-14-1-3 on the season and hosts Albany on Sunday.
Anders Lee and Mike Halmo lead Bridgeport with 11 goals; Lee also leads current Sound Tigers in both assists (12) and points (23). Ryan Strome still leads both the team and the AHL assists (24) and still leads the team in points (33).
Up Next
MONDAY, DECEMBER 23rd —ISLANDERS AT DETROIT 7:30PM
[MSG+ (Islanders pre-game at 7:00pm), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN-FM]

The Islanders head to Detroit for the first time in nearly three years as they complete the season series with the Detroit Red Wings. It’s the Isles’ first trip to the Motor City since PA Parenteau’s overtime goal gave the Isles a 4-3 win on New Year’s Eve 2011 (12/31/10).

The teams split two games at the Coliseum in November, with the Islanders winning in a shootout in the game Evgeni Nabokov was injured and the Red Wings blanking the Isles in the Black Friday rematch.

The Isles have won their last three trips to Detroit and have not lost at Joe Louis Arena since November 28, 2003.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since 1982. Information contained in “The Skinny” has been gathered from various sources. Follow Eric @ehornick on Twitter.